An Exercise in Futility
by Gabriel Bennet
Summary: Sylar meets someone special, a special different than he was used to. Is his search an exercise in futility, Fate's cruel joke, or can even a monster find his salvation?


**An Exercise in Futility**

Chapter 1: Their First Encounter

There he stood in front of the glass case. His ball cap cast a shadow over his face as he read the chronicles of the cheerleader who walked through fire and was not burned. _Intriguing_, he thought. Sylar cocked his head to the side as the clanging of metal upon metal and the chattering mouths of teenage cheerleaders resounded through the hallway. He rolled his eyes and walked down the hallway and through the doors at its end just as the other cheerleaders were exiting at the other side. He grinned when he noticed that his target, the one called Jackie, only had one companion with her.

He peered curiously at her companion, a pretty blonde, as a strange feeling came over him. He quickly shook it off, noticing that they were arguing with each other. _This is going to be easier than I thought. Teenagers…_ He rolled his eyes and cut off the lights with a flick of a finger. As soon as the lights went out, he moved to intercept the two cheerleaders, coming up behind them. He immediately grabbed Jackie and tossed her onto the lockers with a loud clang. Sylar groaned as the other cheerleader leaped onto his back to try to pull him off. He threw her off, wanting to only knock her out not to kill, but he misjudged the strength of the telekinetic blast.

Glancing back at the cheerleader's broken body, Sylar felt something… something he hadn't felt in a while. What was it? Remorse? Yes, that was it. He didn't _mean_ to kill the girl, and he was actually slightly sorry that he did. He was surprised at himself really, but no matter. He was at this point for reason. He turned his attention back to the cheerleader in his grip and raised her high, pointing his finger at her forehead. It tore open, blood spraying from the wound as if a saw was causing it. He noticed that Jackie was no longer looking at him, but looking back at the dead cheerleader's body with a confused look.

He looked back at the dead cheerleader… or at least he thought she was dead. The cheerleader stood up as her body healed itself back to perfect condition. She looked back into his eyes like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. He callously dropped Jackie and looked into the cheerleader's fearful eyes. Yet Sylar… Sylar looked sad, almost as if he wasn't Sylar for that brief moment. He noticed that she was starting to inch away from him, but he did nothing. When he didn't move, she bolted out of the locker room and into the hallway.

Sylar cursed under his breath. He could have stopped her. He had _plenty_ of time to telekinetically grab her, toss her on the lockers and kiss her… kill her. Sylar mentally slapped himself and continued into the hallway, just in time to see his target run away with some emo-looking punk. He growled as he flexed his hand, causing the sound of tearing and breaking metal to fill the air as the locker doors burst from their structures and flew towards the cheerleader's savior. Yet it looked as if the doors were… deflected from him recoiled back in defense. _Curious. I wonder if I should be going after him instead of Miss Miracle-Grow. _Sylar lifted his brow in surprise as he advanced on the retreating do-gooder.

After a few short moments, the cheerleader's and Sylar's eyes met briefly again as he advanced out in the open. Despite the darkness of Homecoming night, they could see each other's eyes as clear as day, which was as strange as the weird feeling that crept through Sylar, a feeling that made him feel like Gabriel again.

Within a few moments, the cheerleader had escaped and Sylar was face-to-face with the cursed interloper. They were at the top of the stadium seating, both primed for a long and fatal fall. Sylar intended to only throw the interloper off the side, not to actually follow him, but the damned punk grabbed onto him and took Sylar down with him. They both crashed into the cement below, the interloper bloody and, as far as Sylar could tell, dead. Sylar, however, managed to use his telekinesis to soften the impact, bruising himself severely but with nowhere the same damage as his 'companion.'

Sylar got up and hobbled away as quickly as he could. He crested a hill outside the school, intent on getting away and letting his injuries heal, only to come face to with some woman who had been waiting for him there. The next thing he saw was darkness…

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A/N: A little short, next chapter should be longer. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. All respectful reviews are welcome.


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